The paper examines the key drivers of gold investment. Since 2000 the gold price has risen drastically, making gold an interesting add-on to a portfolio. As gold futures have negative roll returns, gold pool accounts are characterized by high credit risk and physical possession of gold means...

Behavioral finance theory is used for the foreign exchange market to show, that the profit of a typical trader is mainly due to the higher number of correct positions. Using behavioral finance the amount of loss trades is larger than 60%, however the individual gains are larger than the losses...

This paper discusses the management of loan commitments (Kreditzusagen). First, we elaborate on the necessary steps to efficiently manage liquidity facilities. In particular, the drawdown pattern of single commitments and a portfolio of such commitments have to be modelled. Based on the drawdown...

Mindestmarge ist der entscheidende Baustein bei der Steuerung des Vertriebs. Im Arbeitsbericht wird eine moderne Margenkalkulation in vier Stufen vogestellt. Dabei beschreibt Mindestmarge I Zins- und Kündigungskosten, Mindestmarge II Ausfallkosen, Mindestmarge III Stückkosten und Mindestmarge...

The paper analyses the factors influencing the credit spread of denominated bonds and credit default swaps. The regression shows a significant difference of the credit spread of corporate floaters compared to straight bonds. The steepnes of the yield curve leads surprisingly to lower credit...

The Paper shows the evaluation of credit risky products. Default probabilities for brisk adjusted cash flows or risk adjusted discounting are the backbones for the evaluation of bonds and credits. The second approach is using the market value of shares and their implied volatility to calculate...

Most research on the performance and risk of hedge funds are based on calculations that just use the data from one index provider. Also most product providers and even more and more investors are using hedge fund indices for benchmarking purposes. As some academic articles pointed out, the world...

The investment in commodities is starting to be more important during the last years. The paper describes the characteristics of financially important commodities. In many cases a passive investment in an index is most suitable. As the GSCI is found to be the most important, its underlying...

Hedge Funds are often considered as a possibility for optimizing traditional portfolios due to their alternative risk factors and sources of return. But as the return distribution of hedge funds shows negative skewness and excess kurtosis, using portfolio optimization techniques, based on the...

Convertible bond issues increase considerably since 1990. The paper shows that these issues are more than just the combination of a bond and an option. The pricing depends on the share price, the shares volatility, the interest rate, and the interest volatility , the credit spread, and the...